Dogs, Birds, and Snakes...Oh My!

Writing blog posts every so often when you first arrive to a new country can be challenging. There are so many little moments and stories that you just want to share with everyone, either because those experiences are so different or they are just completely incredulous. I am trying to find a good balance of stories and observations/sentiments, so tonight I will share some animal

Food at the mini market by my host family's house

Chickens...about to be dinner

stories. I am living in West Demerara the "country" part of Guyana. It is pretty urban in my mind, except for the herds of goats, cows, and packs of dogs roaming around everywhere. We are frequently interrupted at our training site by mooing cows or some unbelievably curious goats who keep trying to enter our classroom.



Dogs

In all honesty, the state of most dogs here is pretty bad. It almost breaks my heart when I see them, especially knowing how smart and loving dogs can be. Nonetheless, they also can be little devils. When I first moved into my host family's house, I cleaned some of my shoes outside and left them out to dry. I started unpacking my things and happened to glance out of the window. Low and behold, I see the neighbor's dog happily chomping away at one of my running shoes! I ran out of the house and got it back, but talk about a welcoming. My host mom has a saying that in Guyana if you slip, you slide. I am thankful this wasn't one of those moments.

Birds

'Rico' the parrot

The birds in Guyana are beautiful! They fly around flaunting their vibrant colors of blues, yellows, and oranges. I feel like I've got my own nature sounds alarm clock because they are all singing bright and early in the morning. I would, however, like to disable loud, confused rooster sounds at 3am (still working on finding that button). My host family owns two birds; a parrot and a corunga (sp?)- a cousin of an Oriole. The parrot, Chico, is cool because he says a few words, but other times he makes really loud squawking noises, which I'm not too fond of. The other bird, Bing, lives in the house and is actually quite handsome, dressed in black and yellow. The family lets Bing out to fly around the house in the morning. I am used to animals and don't really mind dodging birds flying around my head, although it is a little odd doing this inside a house. One day Bing lands right next to me on the couch and my host family tells me to reach my hand out and see if he will hop on me. They said "Ohhh Bingy's gettin used to ya! Go ahead! Go ahead!" I was very uncertain about this situation and reluctantly reached my hand out to see if Bing was in fact my friend. As soon as I did he pecked hard at my finger and I jumped back. Then my host family responded "Ohhhhh!! No no no he is definitely not used to ya yet" and proceeded to put him back in his cage. Ohhh well, maybe he will be a bit more friendly next time.

Snakes!!

Big Comudi pulled from the trench

I knew before heading out to Guyana that they had some massive snakes. I saw pictures from some other volunteers and know that some people even eat snake meat. I never dreamed that I would encounter one on my first week here. I went out for a walk with my host mom and was about to head back home, when some of the boys were shouting about something. I saw them with this giant, rope-like object and realized it was a snake. They called it a Comudi, which they say is a baby Anaconda. If this one was a baby, I don't ever want to come across its mama. It had to have been about 7 feet long and it came out of the trench water that flows on either side of the road. Remind me NEVER to fall in one of those! Some of the villagers were posing with it in pictures and asked me if I wanted to do the same. While tempting, I told them maybe next time. I sprinted down the street to get my camera and fellow neighbor volunteer Wendy. I actually think many of the villagers were more surprised by us running than seeing the snake! A large group of neighbors were crowded around the snake to see if one of them could get it into a bag to take to the "zoo" (like I said before some people eat snake here). Someone did manage to bag the snake and put it in their car. Even amidst all of the excitement, I realized that this was the first time I was among the majority of the community and was reacting to a situation with them, instead of just looking from the outside in.

Giant Frog called a 'Crappo'

Hope you got a laugh or two out of some of these stories. I am sure there will be more to come. Miss you lots!

-KB